Polls difficult on May 14, June 18 more suitable: Akşener

KAHRAMANMARAŞ

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener has said that it would be difficult to hold the presidential and parliamentary polls on May 14 as proposed by the government due to the major earthquakes that killed at least 18,000 people in 10 southeastern provinces, stressing June 18 would be a much more suitable date to hold elections.

“Despite everything, I don’t think [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] will be able to cancel the elections. The polls cannot be held on May 14, but they should take place on June 18,” Akşener was quoted as saying by the Turkish media on Feb. 10.

Erdoğan and the Turkish parliament conclude their five-year term in June 2023. Under normal conditions, the elections should be held on June 18. However, Erdoğan suggested that the polls should be held on May 14 as the weekends in June will be busy with national university exams. This was before Türkiye was hit by deadly earthquakes.

Noting that it is the duty of politicians to take the country to the elections, Akşener stressed that it is unlikely that the Turkish parliament will decide to delay the national elections.

Criticizing the government over their incompetence to assist the people amid the earthquake disaster as they recruited incapable people in institutions established to serve the people, Akşener said: “We are facing a major inaptness. They [the government] will observe a very big political decline as a result of this inaptness.”

The biggest reason for this very big tragedy in the earthquake-hit region is the existing executive-presidential system, she said.